In the related art, pneumatic tires for reducing rolling resistance have been proposed in order to contribute to lowering the fuel consumption of automobiles such as hybrid automobiles (HV) and electric vehicles (EV) in particular. In recent years, as concern for the environment has increased, there has been a demand for pneumatic tires with a higher contribution to lowering the fuel consumption of automobiles.
Reducing the total width (SW) of a pneumatic tire so that the front projected area (the projected area viewed from the rolling direction of the pneumatic tire) is decreased to reduce the air resistance around the tire is known as a method of reducing the rolling resistance of pneumatic tires (for example, see International Patent Publication No. WO/2011/135774).
However, with the method as described above, the ground contact width is reduced as the total width of the pneumatic tire is reduced, so it is necessary to increase the outer diameter (OD) in order to maintain a constant load capacity. Therefore, the ground contact length of the pneumatic tire becomes comparatively longer.
When the ground contact length of the pneumatic tire is increased, the water drainage properties (wet performance) are greatly improved. On the other hand, by reducing the ground contact width, the cornering force (CF) is reduced, and therefore the steering stability may be reduced.